El Andalous - Discord

El Andalous - As Seen From the Beach

I am feeling very with it and part of the coronavirus generation since I had a social video conference with my friends in Scotland for a couple of hours last week. How very 2020.

We used Discord, which is a strange name for an app that effectively helps sustain cordiality, but I guess that’s some kind of modern jokey twist that I don’t get.

It didn’t have a server for Egypt, so I ended up in Russia; it was a truly globe-trotting meeting. We were supposed to be meeting up for drinks, but in the end only one of us remembered to bring one. When I saw Rachel drinking, I was really kicking myself for having forgotten (at the time, I was more concerned with whether my internet would work, whether the program would work, whether I could get it to work, etc).

Rachel set it up, so I still have no idea if it’s easy enough to set up your own meeting. Unlike WebEx (a paid-for service, rather than free, which Discord is), you don’t just follow a link to join the meeting, you actually have to download the Discord app on your phone or software onto your laptop. I think we were all on our laptops as it’s a bigger screen to see four people with.

Rachel suggested we all create three slides for discussion. I sweated a bit over this, a bit worried that my topic would be too lame, too personal, too intellectual, or just plain wrong in some other way. I think I prepared one in the end, although it turned out that we never used them. I needn’t have sweated.

At first, I was able to see only Kerstin, and no-one could see me, but I think that was because I’d done it wrong. My screen said that no-one was online, but I could hear everyone and see Kerstin, so the screen was clearly telling porkies. Apparently (doh!), I was supposed to press the meeting name to join the meeting.

As with most online meetings, the first fifteen minutes was taken up with people trying to work out how to connect properly, or at least I was. By the time I had all four videos up on my screen, my audio conked out. My internet was feeling the strain and seemed unable to process everything at once. I contemplated moving to my bedroom (my internet is sometimes better from there), but it was too difficult in mid-flow.

In the end, my internet limitations meant that just one person had their video running (and we all had audio) and we switched round from person to person as the focal point. It worked pretty well and somehow we did have a decent enough conversation. It was good to see my friends; I haven’t even seen Kerstin or Alastair’s flats, so I also got a little peak at where they were living.

Rachel had pointed out beforehand that leaving the conversation might be difficult. You can’t exactly say, oh sorry, I’ve got another appointment, or I’m going out now, because everyone knows that you are only at home. However, she managed it well (very bravely, I thought). I just closed down as soon as she suggested rather than go through any awkward and eternal rounds of goodbye. Maybe I was rude, or maybe everyone else did the same. I have no idea.

It was enjoyable enough for us to agree to do it again in a fortnight’s time. It used up around 1.3 GB for the two hours. These online things are always a bit nerve-wracking for me as I’m never sure how much of my internet allowance it’s eating up. I don’t have unlimited broadband over here.

Anyway, I’m pleased to have had the experience, to have seen my friends, and am slightly less nervous about the prospect of a second meeting!